The Saviour of Severus Snape
by Loki's bride
Summary: After the battle finished someone went back for our dear potions master. might get smutty later rated M just in case. sorry, i suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**Italicised words are thoughts.**

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While the battle was raging on a lone figure slipped under the remains of the Whomping Willow, and into the shrieking shack. She spotted the body of Severus Snape leaned against the far wall covered in his own blood. _Oh Merlin, he looks worse than grandma said he would, _she thought, _how am I supposed to heal __**this**_? The woman pushed her cloak's hood down and set to work. She started by cleaning the blood off of him. Once she got a clear view of his wounds, she checked for a pulse. She had seen the Golden Trio leave so they obviously thought him dead. She smiled to herself when she felt one minuscule tremor in his jugular. She then rummaged in his robes for a bezoar. Upon finding one (as she should have, he's a bloody potions master for Merlin's sake) she forced it into his mouth and massaged his throat to help him swallow it. After she stopped the bleeding and closed the wounds she slipped a blood replenishing potion down his throat and cast a modified _rennervate _to get his blood flowing. As soon as his pulse became regular and his breathing was less shallow she tucked everything into her cloak and apparated herself and Severus out of the shack and to a small cottage on a mountainside leaving behind nothing more than a faint glimmer of sidhe magic.

_Two hours earlier_

Emiryssa Silverthorne was woken up by her grandmother, Thistle, shouting her name. She sighed and put her dressing gown on before heading downstairs to see what all the noise was about. She pulled her long dark brown hair into a ponytail while she bounced down the stairs two at a time, a habit that her grandmother hated. When she reached the bottom of the small flight of stairs she was welcomed to the sight of her grandma pacing and glowing. To anyone else this would have looked terrifying, but to Emiryssa this was simply another day living with her sidhe family members.

"What is it grandmother?" the 28 year old half-sidhe asked her groggily.

Her glowing grandmother turned and looked at her, "The final battle has begun!"

"Yes, and it has nothing to do with us. The ministry is against half-breeds, why should I rush to their aid when, had our roles been reversed, they wouldn't show me the same courtesy?"

"Because it's not the ministry fighting and dying, it's the children and professors." The deep baritone of her grandfather's voice gave Emiryssa a start.

"Oh, Grandfather, you startled me, you really ought to start wearing a bell or something, you- THEY'RE LETTING CHILDREN FIGHT A BLOODY WAR?"

Her sidhe grandfather nodded sombrely.

Emiryssa's big emerald green eyes flashed angrily. She had always loved being around and caring for children and the thought of the ministry not even bothering to help fight a war while _children_ were fighting, dying, and watching their friends and professors die at the hands of heartless killers made her want to vomit. While she was only twenty-eight, she had endured things that would horrify some death eaters, and her experience made her extremely protective of the latest generation. She was shaken from her thoughts as her grandmother placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Your old mentor, Severus Snape, is in grave danger." Thistle said.

This really got Emiryssa's attention. "Professor Snape? What do you mean he's in danger?"

"You must go to him, when you find him, heal him and bring him here."

Emiryssa ran up to her room. She put on a cloak over her dress and placed an undetectable expansion charm on the pockets and began stuffing various healing salves and potions in them. Once she got everything she grabbed her wand and made her way outside to apparate. Before she left her grandfather pulled her aside and into his study. He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a pair of silver daggers that were inlaid with small diamonds and emeralds.

"They were your mother's," he said as he handed them to her.

She started tearing up and took them from him. "I'll make her proud," she whispered before running out to the gardens to apparate to Hogwarts.

She appeared in a field of chaos. There were spells flying everywhere and at first she was almost hit by a few of them. Once she regained her senses she began firing rather nasty hexes at various black clad masked assailants. She made her way to the castle to wait for her grandmother's instructions. When she got there she saw Augustus Rockwood raise his wand toward Fred Weasley. Before he could utter whatever twisted curse he had planned for the twin Emiryssa's dagger was sinking into his throat. The twins turned to stare at her.

"You can thank me later," she said with a wink and smirk.

_Stay in the castle for now, _her grandmother's voice echoed in her head,_ I will alert you when it's time to go to him._ Emiryssa nodded even though she knew her grandmother couldn't see her.

As she wove her way through various duelling parties she put her daggers in a holster on the belt of her dress. She took out her ebony wand once more and began duelling with random death eaters. She narrowly escaped more than a few _avada kedavras _and several _crucios_. After a while she got tired of using her wand and just fought wandlessly, throwing her opponents into walls and staircases. She caught the eye of Lucius Malfoy and he came over to her. He didn't have a wand and her grandmother had told her a few days ago that he and his family were no longer supporters of Voldemort. She winked at him and knocked him out wordlessly. _At least now no one can say he fought, _Emiryssa thought. Breathing deeply, she began to clear her mind, while taking care of Malfoy she sensed her grandmother was trying to contact her.

_What is it grandmother?_

_It is time. Go! Now!_

The last few words were shouted and Emiryssa felt a headache threatening to bloom. Using occlumency she pushed the pain back and made for the exit. Once she was out she cleared her mind once more.

_Where do I go?_

_The place he fears most, whose entrance lies under the tree._

Emiryssa rolled her eyes as the connection broke. _Thank you grandma, this really is a great time for riddles_, she thought sourly. She tried to think, from what Severus had told her during her apprenticeship he had almost been killed in the shrieking shack by Remus Lupin while he was a student at Hogwarts. _Well I'd be afraid of the place after something like that, and the entrance is under the Whomping Willow! I've got it! _She broke out into a run and headed for the Shrieking Shack. While she was running she heard her grandmother's voice one last time.

_Be prepared Emiryssa! His wounds are great and not for the weak-stomached!_

Emiryssa chuckled at her grandmother's words. Anyone who knew her knew she wasn't squeamish at all. While she was learning under professor Snape she had made numerous potions for the infirmary where he brother was apprenticing for Madame Pomfrey. She had been able to observe the nastiest wounds she had ever seen up close and she hadn't fainted or vomited once, in fact sometimes Severus would have to drag her out of the infirmary just so she could get her own work done. The gore of it all fascinated her to an almost morbid extent. She still took heed to her grandmother's words though, while she could easily handle seeing a stranger in pain, she wasn't sure if she could bear the sight of her former superior in agony. She pushed her thoughts out of the way, knowing she needed a clear head for the upcoming task. _Professor Snape would have my head if I didn't_, she thought with a chuckle. She ran up to the remains of the Whomping Willow, not knowing what to expect.

_Present_

Emiryssa crash landed outside of her grandparents' cottage. The home was quite a ways away and she had to enforce her apparation with sidhe magic. She managed to levitate Severus' body into the house before fainting from sheer exhaustion.

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**A/N: I _had_ to save Fred, he's my favourite twin :3**

**Oh! And Grandma Thistle isn't a seer, she just knows when things are happening, or are being planned. More on that in chapter three, first we need to get Severus healed.**


	2. Chapter 2

Julius Greyhawk rushed to his granddaughter's side while his wife tended to the unconscious potions master on the makeshift bed. He knew Thistle would need Emiryssa's help so he allowed some of his sidhe magic flow into the witch. She stood up with a groan and headed over to Thistle and Severus, patting Julius' shoulder in thanks as she passed him. She checked Severus' pulse and was pleased to find that it had evened out and wasn't so faint.

"Grandmother, can you get me some water and a cloth?" she asked softly, moving strands of jet black hair out of Severus' face.

Her grandmother was gone before Emiryssa could blink, returning moments later with a bowl of cold water and a rag.

"Thank you, I can take it from here," Emiryssa said with a tired smile.

Her grandmother nodded and left, her husband nodded to Emiryssa and followed his wife to their bedroom to get some much needed rest. Emiryssa looked over at Severus and realised that it was probably unpleasant to be lying on the small couch so she levitated him upstairs to her room and laid him on the bed. Once she was sure he was comfortable she headed back headed back downstairs to retrieve the water and rag, too exhausted to summon them with magic.

When she got back she found Severus tossing and turning, letting out moans and whimpers of pain. She rushed over to him and held him, stroking his hair and making soothing sounds. This calmed him down enough for her to scurry over to her cloak and get an anti-pain potion for him. After she helped him swallow it and gave it a few moments to take effect she went over to the bowl and rag. She dipped the cloth in the water and rung it out before dabbing it on Severus' sweat covered forehead. She hummed an old lullaby her mother used to sing to her as she continued to cool off the potions professor. Once he had fallen asleep again she transfigured a nearby chair into a bed. She got a few blankets out of her closet, curled up with them in the bed and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Emiryssa woke up with a pounding headache. The brunette stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen for one of her grandmother's herbal remedies. She smiled to herself as she downed a bottle and felt it begin to work immediately. Feeling much better, she hopped up the stairs to check on her old mentor. He was still hot to the touch and the tremors were still visible, but his breathing and heartbeat had calmed and evened out. _I'd rather him hot with a fever than cold with death_ she thought. She pushed his hair out of his face and sang softly. She noticed the first time she hummed to him it calmed him down, this time she laced her voice with sidhe magic. The Sidhe called this song weaving, it was a form of magic weaving used to invoke emotion in whomever the song was directed towards. For now she used it to calm Severus, whose breathing had become more laboured and he had broke into a sweat. He immediately relaxed and drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

Emiryssa couldn't help but notice how innocent he looked in his sleep. The harsh lines that usually marred his already severe appearance vanished and the scowl that seemed permanent was gone, leaving smooth skin and a serene expression. She shook her head and told herself to snap out of it. It wouldn't do to start pining for a man currently knocking on death's door. _And if you manage to nurse him back to health? What then? _Emiryssa frowned and cursed the stupid voice echoing through her head. When she was working under him as an apprentice, she had developed certain romantic feelings him, but she wasn't sure if she could really call it a "crush". She did love him, but wasn't necessarily _in_ love with him, still, she had come to know more about him than anyone could really hope to. Her feelings felt stronger than a crush, but they weren't strong enough to be considered "falling in love". She sighed, already mentally worn out from thinking about it. She turned her attentions back to Severus. The young sidhe grabbed a damp cloth from the night stand beside the bed and dabbed his forehead with it. She looked at him and thought about the day she had applied for an apprenticeship...

_**Flashback**_

_Emiryssa walked down the dimly lit corridor of the dungeons, reminiscing about her time spent wandering them as a student. She ran her fingers against the cool stone of the walls as she remembered her first time walking into the potions classroom. She had been excited and terrified and nervous all at the same time. Her brother had to tell her to calm down three times before they got to there. Of course, once the class started she had managed to impress her teacher, not only finishing the potion before the rest of her classmates, but making it perfectly. She smiled now, __**guess all those extra lessons with uncle Barty and uncle Morgan paid off**__, she thought. She was so caught up in her thoughts she almost missed the door to professor Snape's office. She stopped and took a few deep breaths before knocking on the large wooden door. She was so nervous her hands were shaking so she began to list potions ingredients in alphabetical order. She was up to chameleon scales when the door swung open to reveal the surly professor. She looked up at him and smiled. He was exactly as she remembered him, looking imposing as ever dressed in all black with a scowl set firmly in place, the latter softening at the sight of Emiryssa._

"_Miss Silverthorne, what a pleasant surprise. Please, come in."_

_Her cheeks flushed and her shoulders relaxed as she stepped into the office, looking around as she did, "It's good to see you professor, I see nothing's changed."_

"_I couldn't say the same for you. Did you get taller?" he asked with a smirk._

_Emiryssa pouted a little at the question. She wasn't the tallest person on the planet, now an adult she's only 5' 2". When she was a student at Hogwarts she was only about four and a half feet tall and everyone would tease her about her height, or lack thereof. But when professor Snape made the remark she knew he meant it good naturedly and she smirked back at him._

"_As a matter of fact, I did," she retorted with a small chuckle. "I take it you know why I'm here?"_

"_I do, and I have to say, you were my most gifted student, and remain the most adept potioneer I have ever taught. There was really no need to send an application."_

_Her already rosy cheeks were tinged a darker pink at his compliment. Severus Snape doesn't compliment one that doesn't deserve it. "Well, I just wanted to be sure, didn't want to seem arrogant or anything."_

_He smiled at her, a real smile this time, something incredibly rare with this particular man, "I take it back, you haven't changed a bit."_

_**End flashback**_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a small moan from Severus. She continued stroking his forehead gently. She sighed to herself; this was going to be a long month.

_4 months later_

Severus' healing process had been taking much longer than Emiryssa and her grandmother has initially thought. He was still comatose and they were _still_ trying to figure out what was preventing him to heal. Emiryssa was confident in her hypothesis that his magic suffered such a blow that it was taking extra long to revive itself. Her grandfather secretly agreed with her, though he dare not give any indication of it in front of Thistle. Though Emiryssa had raised some logical arguments and had supported her theory with conclusive facts, Thistle wouldn't hear of it. She believed his magic was completely wiped out and his body was trying to compensate for the void left by it. Emiryssa knew this wasn't true because she had felt his magic flowing through his body every time she ran his vitals.

But on the last day of the fourth month something happened. Emiryssa was casting his daily cleansing charms and noticed his breathing pattern had changed, shifting from the rhythmic pattern of sleep to becoming more erratic. His eyelids started moving, as if he was trying to blink but didn't really have that much strength. Emiryssa took a few calming breaths before gently waking him with an old sidhe charm her grandmother had taught her. His eyes shot open and he took a ragged breath.


	3. Chapter 3

Emiryssa had to force herself to stay calm as Severus' eyes looked around the room and finally settled on her still form. He raised one eyebrow questioningly. She suppressed a grin as she began to explain all that had happened. He took everything surprisingly well; he didn't interrupt or lash out at her, but rather nodded sagely through her recount of the whole ordeal. In fact, he was so quiet Emiryssa was afraid, too many a time had he assigned the worst detentions imaginable whilst only speaking a decibel above a whisper. She nearly shuddered as images of flobberworm slime ran through her mind, but remembered Severus was still laying there.

"Professor?" she prompted cautiously.

"Yes?" his voice was hoarse.

"N-never mind, do you think you're able to eat?"

"No," he said swallowing thickly, "not yet, but I am thirsty."

"I'll bring up some water and soup then," she said with a soft smile.

Severus nodded once more and she left the room. As she descended the stairs and made her way to the kitchen she couldn't help but think about her former professor's silence. If she knew anything about that man it was that he was a tortured soul, but he was also a good person. If anyone deserved a second chance it was him, but maybe he didn't feel that way. She nearly burst into tears at the thought of Severus _wanting_ to die, or at least being okay with it. After ladling some spinach soup into two bowls and getting water for the two of them she went back upstairs.

Somehow Severus had gathered the strength to pull himself into a sitting position by the time she had returned. She set one of the two floating bowls of soup and Severus' water down on the table next to the bed and grabbed the other bowl. She knew he was still weak, having just come out of a coma so she spoon-fed him, telling him he shouldn't be moving around too much after his particular ordeal. He simply nodded and let her feed him. She smiled quietly to herself, thinking of how he had done the same for her back when she was his apprentice.

_Flashback-_

_She had contracted a rather nasty case of the flu and could barely move her limbs. Severus hadn't even let Poppy touch her; instead he kept her in his personal rooms and nursed her back to health there. _

"_Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" she asked weakly._

"_So you don't have to heal in the presence of all the dunderheads who frequent the hospital wing, unless you'd prefer it," he replied with a knowing smirk._

_She laughed weakly, or at least attempted to, the chuckle quickly turned into a cough._

"_Shhhh," he soothed, stroking her forehead, checking her temperature in the process._

_She leaned back and her eyes fluttered shut before opening once more._

"_Just one more thing," she all but whispered._

"_What would that be?"_

"_Don't give Goyle detention before I'm better, I have something special in mind for giving me this blasted virus."_

_The last thing she heard before drifting off was the throaty chuckle of Severus Snape. _

_-End flashback._

The woman was pulled out of her musings when her old mentor cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow.

"I was thinking of how you did the same for me, way back when," she said, gesturing between him and the bowl she held in her hands.

"Ah, I see," Severus said with a soft smile.

"Are you still hungry?" she asked, setting the bowl down when the man shook his head.

She was going to ask him if he was in any pain when there was a loud crash down stairs. She jumped and yelped before rolling her eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said with a sigh, "Ironically, Grandma's eyesight isn't as good as it once was."

Severus smirked and nodded, watching her as she hurried out of the room and bounded down the stairs.

"What in the name of Merlin happened!" she exclaimed as she reached the bottom step.

Then she saw that her grandmother was glowing. Again.

"Oh for the love of- what _now _Grandma?" she asked, utterly exasperated.

"Death Eaters, they wormed their way out of the auror's grasp," her grandma explained in the deep magic-laced voice that always overtook her during her glowing bouts. "They're hiding, in a muggle park, if you hurry, you'll catch them."

Emiryssa growled and leapt back up the stairs to gather her things.

Severus looked up, somewhat startled, when the girl (for she was still a girl in his eyes) stormed back in the room.

"Is something the matter," he inquired as she forcefully opened and shut various drawers, seemingly in search of something.

There was still a slight growl in her voice when she answered him. "Death eaters. In a flittin' park. Apparently the ministry is still made up of incompetent eejits."

A look of realisation and amusement passed over his features as she grabbed her daggers and tied her hair up.

"I'll be back in an hour or two, depending how well the bloody oafs cooperate. Considering they're Death Eaters, it'll most likely take two."

She put on her hooded black cloak and twisted, disapperating on the spot with a _crack_.

She allowed her grandmother's magic to guild her to the correct location and looked around. Thankfully her sidhe magic shrouded her from muggles, which was good considering she had just apparated in the middle of a muggle park in broad daylight. She swept the perimeter of the park. Her sidhe magic altered her sight so she was seeing magical traces, as well as thermal energy. Her eyes changed to a shade of bright orange as she looked around. She smiled as she spotted her targets, hiding in a patch of trees like the cowards they were. Her grin grew in to a predatory smirk as she advanced on the dark wizards. Sometimes she quite enjoyed the job her grandmother placed upon her.

With the speed and grace of a panther she made for the edge of the park, stealthily creeping towards the men behind the tree. Once she was close enough she hopped onto a branch stretching from the tree they were standing under. Clearing her throat she waited for them to figure out where it had come from. Instead of disapperating at the first sound directed towards them (which wouldn't have been a smart move, considering she could simply trace their magic and find them within seconds) they stood stock-still and looked around, finally spotting her staring down on them from her perch.

"Well, gents, I hate to rain on you proverbial parade, but I'm gonna have to take you to your rightful home on a lovely island where the rest of your friends are currently residing."

At the very allusion to Azkaban the two took off running. Emiryssa rolled her eyes and calmly leapt from the tree. She threw both daggers and smiled triumphantly when they hit their objective. The blades, which she had infused with magic, tore through each wizard's robes and anchored themselves to the ground, dragging the two men down with a satisfying _thump_. She pulled out and expanded a shrunken bow and two sedative-infused arrows from her cloak and shot both men. She smiled playfully as she watched their bodies tense up, and then relax as they passed out. She pulled her daggers out of their robes and put them in her cloak along with her now shrunken bow and arrows. Getting a firm hold on the bodies, she apparated to the ministry to claim her reward.

"Two hours. Two _bloody hours_!" were her first words as she entered her room and threw her cloak on a nearby chair.

"Put up a fight did they?" Severus drawled.

"The Death Eaters? No. No it took the flittin Ministry two hours to take them in and get my bloody reward! Do you know how long that _should've _taken?" She didn't wait for an answer, "twenty minutes at the _most_. Instead _I _was taken in for questioning because they can't bring themselves to admit a 28 year old woman with no _proper_ training could do the job originally assigned to two aurors. Feckin' eejits!"

Severus had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. While her voice normally sounded relatively British with a _slight_ northern influence, she now sounded like a full force Irishwoman. He turned his attention back to her ranting.

"I mean is it really _my_ fault I've been trained in that sort of thing since I was three? Of course I'd be better at finding and taking down dangerous people, I've certainly dealt with enough of them."

There she stopped and cast her eyes downward, suddenly _very_ subdued. "I-I'll bring you up some soup, you look hungry."

With that she turned and left, leaving a very confused and curious potions master in her wake.

Later that night Severus let his curiosity get the better of him and asked her why she had suddenly gotten quiet during her rant earlier.

"I was just suddenly reminded of my _charming _father. I think the mere thought of that man is enough to put anyone in a bad mood," she spat bitterly.

Severus scowled, he remembered her father all right. The man was a monster from what Emiryssa had told him, and at the time Severus had a feeling she wasn't even telling him half of what went on in her home.

"I see," he said curtly, then, to change the subject, "I'm curious as to what you've been up to these past years."

"I spent some time as a potions mistress, working in my uncles' apothecary shop. After about three years my grandma summoned me here. She needed an extra healer who could also brew potions. She would have asked my brother, but we all know putting him in the same room as a cauldron would spell certain doom for this little cottage" –they both chuckled at this, "so she asked me to do it. I agreed, but didn't know she was also in need of certain... skills. At first I was a little put off by the request she made, but after a while I began to get used to it, I even enjoy it a little. I've been working under her ever since."

"And what set of skills does Thistle require?"

"Why, those of a trained assassin of course. Oh don't look at me like that Severus; I know you've known about my upbringing since I started at Hogwarts. Maybe not all of the details, but you've know the gist of it. I'm not killing for money, she hired me as a mercenary because her sight has become much more... in tune, these past few years. She's seeing things almost _before_ they happen, she can see when something is being plotted, and she can even sense a person's intentions now. There are some truly evil people out there; some even considered candidates as the next dark lord. Those that pose a large enough threat are the ones she sends me to kill. There are so many plots to overthrow the Ministry that the aurors should be ashamed of themselves for not even detecting _one_ of them. Most of those threats are in the U.K. and Ireland too."

"Why haven't you contacted the Ministry?" Severus asked.

"You and I both know they wouldn't do shite without 'proper' evidence, and even if they did any sting-op they tried would have a disastrous outcome. They would alert every other war lord and they would all flee the country, making _everyone's _job harder. No, it's better this way. Besides, I never leave a trace when I kill. Even if the blasted Ministry suspected me, they'd have nothing to back it up. Sidhe magic is too subtle for them to trace and I don't use a wand. There's no way for them to link me to any of the murders, unless you told them, of course."

"Which you know I wouldn't," He said firmly.

Emiryssa smiled at him, "I didn't think you would."


End file.
